Darkness Falls [Preloaded Digital Audio Player]

Kyle Mills (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 2008

Erin Neal has been living a secluded life in the Arizona desert since the death of his girlfriend and he isn’t happy when an oil company executive comes calling. A number of important Saudi wells have stopped producing and Erin is the world’s foremost expert in resolving just these kinds of complications. As far as he’s concerned, though, he’s left that world behind. Not his problem. Homeland Security sees things differently. Erin quickly finds himself stuck in the Saudi desert, studying a new bacteria with a voracious appetite for oil and an uncanny talent for destroying drilling equipment. But worst of all is its ability to spread. It soon becomes clear that if this contagion isn’t stopped, it will infiltrate the world’s petroleum reserves, cutting the industrial world off from the energy that provides the heat, food, and transportation necessary for survival. Erin realizes that there’s something eerily familiar about this bacteria. And that it couldn’t possibly have evolved on its own.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Masterful thriller writer Mills returns to his series hero, former FBI agent Mark Beamon (last seen in 2002's Sphere of Influence), with a pulse-pounding apocalyptic scenario that is terrifying in its plausibility. Maverick environmentalist Erin Neal has become a pariah after his provocative book angered both conservationists and conservatives, and a recluse after the death of his ex-lover, eco-terrorist Jenna Kalin. His solitude is interrupted when Beamon, now the head of energy security for the U.S. government, tracks him down to stop a disaster: the destruction of the world's major oilfields by bioengineered bacteria remarkably similar to ones Neal himself considered designing. The bioweapons have already infected the major Saudi sources of oil, and the impact on the U.S. economy makes the identification of the terrorists and a plan to stem the spread of their microorganisms the national priority. While such plots are a dime a dozen, Mills's meticulous research, pacing and carefully developed characters make this variation particularly convincing. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Erin Neal, acknowledged expert on analyzing and preventing oil-field disasters, has recused himself from a world that rejected his advice on runaway energy consumption. Isolation in the Arizona desert also allows him the dubious privilege of self-pity. But now someone has mutated his controllable oil-eating bacteria, which were used to clean up spills, and infested the world's primary oil fields. Former FBI agent Mark Beamon, a well-paid, do-nothing official in Homeland Security, is directed to recruit Neal for damage assessment and development of an antidote. Neal participates under protest but provides a chilling prognosis: 30 percent of the world's oil is at risk, and the possible development of an airborne strain of the bacteria would send the planet back to subsistence farming. Mills, the standard-bearer for doomsday thrillers, offers another entry that is as disturbing as it is entertaining. His villains are ecologists whose initial idealism has morphed into destructive zealotry, and his heroes are as flawed as they are convincing: Beamon, who's been featured in other Mills thrillers, is a seen-it-all character who hasn't seen anything like this, and Neal is a bitter, lonely, perpetually grieving scientist, a nearly broken man trying to summon one last burst of strength. Mills has done it again: another up-all-night read (with nightmares to follow). Lukowsky, Wes --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Preloaded Digital Audio Player
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 160514052X
• ISBN-13: 978-1605140520
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Kyle Mills is the New York Times bestselling author of twelve books, including the latest in Robert Ludlum's Covert-One series, The Ares Decision.

Growing up in Oregon, Washington, DC, and London as a the son of an FBI agent, Kyle absorbed an enormous amount about the Bureau, giving his novels their unique authenticity. He and his wife live in Wyoming where they spend their off hours rock climbing and backcountry skiing.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, March 21, 2008

By 

Chris Grassmuck "Chris" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Darkness Falls (Hardcover)

This was simply a quick and entertaining read. Good subject that was quickly put together and resolved.

Probably a beach book for most.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars better than average thriller, March 9, 2008

By 

Mark "MTF" (Waltham, MA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Darkness Falls (Hardcover)

Microbes are eating and destroying oil. I loved the premise in this book from the start, and it kept my interest throughout the book. Unfortunately, the main romance is a bit forced and the ending is more than a bit far fetched. The characters were not especially interesting or believable. In spite of the weaknesses, this thriller was one I liked. It moved at a good pace and the originality of the plot made it fun. I listened to this audiobook, and the reader was very good. This book mixes action, environmentalism and terrorism and tells a pretty good story.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A First Rate Thriller, October 27, 2007

By 

Sam Sattler (Spring, Texas) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Darkness Falls (Hardcover)

Oil production has become a common target of terrorists who see shutting it down or holding it hostage as a means of influencing world politics. Western economies cannot survive without a steady flow of crude oil, a product that to a larger and larger degree is produced in countries not exactly friendly to Western ideas and influences. Oil companies have come to be cast as villains on the world stage and have also attracted a new breed of terrorist, environmentalist extremists, in addition to the more familiar brand of terrorism suffered at the hands of Islamist extremists. Thus is the stage set for the latest thriller from Kyle Mills, Darkness Falls.

When new bacteria surprisingly appear in the oil fields of Saudi Arabia, bacteria with a voracious appetite for oil and the drilling equipment used to produce it, Erin Neal, a retired expert in the prevention and control of oil field disasters, finds himself there at the not so subtle request of Homeland Security. As one oil well after the other stops producing, it becomes apparent that the bacteria have the ability to spread from one well to the next and could permanently kill oil production from the biggest producing field in the world. Thirty percent of the world's production is seen to be at immediate risk, something that could destabilize international politics to the point of causing open warfare and countless deaths.

Erin Neal is devastated to find that his own research into the design of oil-eating bacteria to be used in oil spill cleanup may have been adapted by his former girlfriend and fellow scientist to develop similar bacteria capable of destroying oil still in underground reservoirs. Neal, who had been driven to living in seclusion by the woman's apparent drowning, begins to suspect not only that she may still be alive but that she could be involved with people who are willing to protect the environment at the cost of millions of lives.

Working with Homeland Security and with the highest levels of government, Neal finds himself in a desperate race to catch those responsible for spreading the bacteria before the world's entire oil supply is destroyed. As they come to realize that losing oil means losing the power necessary to produce and transport food supplies, to generate heating and cooling for billions, and to fuel the economy and military, Neal and his team understand that only they can prevent the ultimate loss of millions of lives. If they fail, mankind will be reduced to a standard of living not seen for hundreds of years.

Kyle Mills has written a first rate thriller, a nightmarish reminder that our way of life is almost completely dependent on a natural resource that is less and less found within our own borders. Love them or hate them, it is clear that this way of life is dependent on the success that oil companies have in replacing oil reserves for at least the next several decades.

If you don't believe me, read Darkness Falls.